Jayne Loves Adventures

I love a road trip. The possibilities of the open road in front of me, cares left behind, following signposts on a whim, seeing where I end up, what’s not to love? Erm, well quite a lot of that actually, when you’re a family of four, including two girls in the ‘inclined to be grouchy’ phase. To add to this, our chosen destination, California, is more than one and a half times the size of the UK, with varying climates and landscapes, and we had under 3 weeks to fit in as much as we could. Gulp.

Transatlantic travel isn’t cheap, and since the pandemic, prices have shot up, so it’s quite a big deal for many of us. The urge to squeeze everything in was strong, but we had to be realistic. If you whizz around a place, too tight for time to be able to stop and explore, have you really been there at all? We needed to narrow our to-do list down, and shape it into a feasible plan. Easier said than done.

Many people opt to start in San Francisco, travelling down the coast to Los Angeles, then on to San Diego, some add Las Vegas in too, as it’s practically in the neighbourhood, relatively speaking. Driving north to south puts you on the right hand side of the road, where you can enjoy the views of the coastline, without traffic that’s travelling in the opposite direction messing up your view every five seconds. Ideal.

We ruled out Las Vegas immediately. Although it’s a fascinating place with a plethora of things to do, it was low on our list of priorities, so it was binned. Next to get the chop was San Diego, but not for the reasons you might think. As I’ve said, our aim wasn’t to zip through, seeing lots but experiencing none of it. After a little bit of reading, we ruled out San Diego because there is so much to see and do, we felt a separate trip, when we can allocate more time, would be preferable. This left us with a rough plan that included San Francisco, the Pacific Coast Highway, Los Angeles, Anaheim (if we were going to be nearby, popping in to see Mickey Mouse was 100% happening) and Yosemite. Then I saw photos of Lake Tahoe and added that to the list as well. Deciding where to fly in and out of, whether to do a big loop or open jaw flights, and how to organise our time was a big can of worms, with every answer leading to an array of further questions. I needed some help with this.

I had joined a few groups on Facebook to get some ideas, which is where I first heard of The American Road Trip Company. Based in Chester, this small but mighty team are well-versed in putting trips together. Initially, I looked at their website to get itinerary inspiration, but found myself filling in the ‘contact us’ form. This led to a chat on the phone, which led to a sample itinerary being prepared, which led to pressing the ‘book now’ button. Simple, right? Well, sadly, no. Our trip was booked for July 2020, and I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you what happened next. What I will tell you is that I felt incredibly glad that I wasn’t the one having to deal with car hire, flight, and multiple hotel cancellations. The terms and conditions varied, it would have been a huge headache to get a handle on it all. Christian and the team were outstanding. He reassured me that, whatever happened, he had our backs, and we chatted several times before our trip was rescheduled for May 2021. As travel hadn’t opened up by our travel date, this was again put on hold. Although travel was possible by the summer of 2022, there were many restrictions still in place, and unvaccinated people were not allowed into restaurants in California. As our youngest was in an age group that wasn’t eligible for the vaccine at the time we had to make a decision, we put it off again. Another factor was that things were opening slowly in California. As I said to Christian on the phone, we wanted the full experience, not a half-hearted attempt at it. Ever hopeful, we made plans for Easter 2023.

Laura, one of Christian’s team, put together a slightly different itinerary for us. As we would be travelling earlier in the year than initially planned, certain aspects had to be tweaked, due to the seasons being different, and some roads being closed. It was decided that we would leave Lake Tahoe for another time, which gave us more time in both San Francisco and Yosemite. We were again given a suggested itinerary as a starting point. We would fly into San Francisco with British Airways. After reading a few things about San Francisco in the Facebook groups, I asked for a change of hotel, in a location that would suit us better. The one non-negotiable was that I wanted to stay at Evergreen Lodge for the Yosemite part of our trip. I had been wanting to stay there for years, the setting, the location, and their mission just spoke to me, and I had to go. Laura warned that the weather could be a little dicey in late March/early April, but we decided to chance it. I will talk more about this decision in another post, because it nearly backfired.

There was great flexibility in the plan, and we added a day here, changed a hotel there, pushed the whole thing back a week to take advantage of cheaper flights, so I still felt very much in the driving seat, Laura wasn’t telling us what to do, she was guiding and assisting us in our vision for the trip. I was very happy to trust her judgement, especially with things like car hire. When and where to collect, what coverage was needed, where to drop off etc. was a minefield, and I hate the whole spiel at collection when they try and sell you all different things you don’t really need. There was none of that here, we knew the insurance covered all we needed it to, and so collecting the car was very straightforward as a result. Well, it was until Himintheshed had to steer a monster of a car out of a multi-storey, driving on the opposite side. I closed my eyes. Not my favourite moment of the trip!

While Laura sorted our flights, car hire, hotels and route, it was my job to look at places we wanted to visit, and to organise tickets.

From what started as a vague list of ‘wants’ Laura crafted the following itinerary for us.

• Fly LHR to LAX, departing 11.10am
• 3 nights at Hotel Caza, Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco
• Collect car at Fisherman’s Wharf
• 4 nights at Evergreen Lodge, Yosemite
• 2 nights at Portola Hotel & Spa, Monterey
• 1 night at Oceanpoint Ranch, Cambria
• 1 night at Harbor View Inn, Santa Barbara
• 2 nights at Best Western Sunset Plaza, West Hollywood
• 3 nights at Hilton Anaheim
• Fly LAX to LHR, departing 9.15pm

18 nights away in total, including the night before our flight (I booked a Premier Inn for this so we wouldn’t have the worry of traffic delays before our flight) and the night on the plane on the way home.

Next, it was time to make more detailed plans.

• San Francisco
• Alcatraz – booked in advance as soon as bookings opened on the official site. I checked daily as we wanted to go on the first boat to take advantage of jet lag early starts.
• Big Bus Tour – booked through the hotel on arrival. It’s more expensive to book at their office than it is to book online, but the hotel offered a discount, making it the same price as booking online, and I was sure I was getting the correct ticket type, as we wanted to do the night tour as well as the daytime one.
• Musee Mecanique – no booking or ticket necessary, just walk in, change some money into quarters, and play to your heart’s content.
• Yosemite
• Sugar Pine Railroad – booked in advance via their website. Unfortunately they had to delay their opening date due to record snowfall causing damage, but they refunded within minutes.
• Yosemite Tour – booked via the recreation team at Evergreen Lodge. This hadn’t been in the plan at all, but due to the weather, we decided to join a tour in case chain restrictions were implemented (they go against the terms and conditions of most car rental agreements) so we could still see the valley.
• Monterey
• Whale watching – booked online the day before via the Princess Monterey website. We wanted to wait to see what sea conditions would be like, but I lost my nerve on the drive to Monterey and booked for the following morning. People were walking up and booking when we were waiting to get on the boat, so I needn’t have worried.
• Monterey Aquarium – I tried and tried to book this while waiting to get on the boat, but for some reason it wouldn’t go through. I tried to call, but the recorded message stated tickets can’t be booked over the phone or on the door, please visit the website, then hung up. Useful. Thankfully, one of the reception team at the hotel was able to help me book using his desktop computer.
• 17 Mile Drive – pay at the booth as you enter.
• Los Angeles
• La Brea Tar Pits – we bought tickets on arrival
• Griffith Observatory – closed on Mondays, so no tickets needed to explore the grounds and enjoy the views. Pay for parking at the machine.
• Anaheim
• Disneyland – 3 day park hopper tickets with Genie+ purchased months in advance through Attraction Tickets. I then linked these to our Disney account, then reserved our park days as soon as this was possible, which was around Christmas for an early April trip. I had checked daily to be sure of getting the days we wanted, as we had no flexibility for this part of the trip. When we went you had to reserve your first park of the day, and could then hop to the other after 1pm, but you had to scan in at the first park to allow this. This has changed a couple of times since, so do check the current state of play as part of your planning. When I bought the Disney tickets, it worked out cheaper to have 3 day hoppers with Genie+ via Attraction Tickets than the basic tickets would have been if I had booked directly through Disney. This ebbs and flows, so it’s just a matter of crunching the numbers and working out the best price for your needs at the time you book.

Now we had the bare bones of our trip in place, the flights, accommodation, transport, and essential tickets, it was time to pad out the itinerary. This will be different for everyone, interests, time of year, age of travellers and weather conditions will all vary, so I won’t go into great detail here, but how you find the information may be useful. The American Road Trip Company send out a trip pack, which includes the following

• A Lonely Planet Guidebook – while these can be a bit vague, and sometimes a little out of date, they are great for getting an overview of a destination, and a great starting point for further research
• A California Map – use this in conjunction with Google Maps. If you’re used to using Ordnance Survey, you’ll find nearly all American maps somewhat lacking. It’s a big place, and just hasn’t been mapped to the OS level of detail.
• THE FOLDER – (see below) This is your bible and you must keep it in sight at all times.It has everything in it, flight details, contact numbers, accommodation vouchers, but most useful is the section that details all of the things to do in each place you’re visiting.
• A pen – very useful when you need to fill in forms etc.
• Memory Box – all of this comes in a sturdy cardboard box, designed to be used to store all the bits and bobs you pick up on the trip, boarding passes, tickets, that sort of thing. Very useful for keeping everything in one place once you return home.
• Bag – a canvas bag which holds it all. Pop it in your hand luggage, you’ll definitely use it!

You can also find great ideas on social media, on Facebook the California Dreamers and West Coast Wanderers group is definitely worth joining. A good mix of experienced roadtrippers and locals, and containing hundreds of trip reports, it’s a great source of information, and one of the friendlier groups you’ll find. Instagram is also a good place to look for inspiration, although the dreamy photos of empty places should be taken with a pinch of salt! @flyingdawnmarie has been doing a series of 30 California Day Trips which is well worth a look. You can also follow any hotels and attractions you’d like to visit. Sometimes they share offers and useful tips. While you’re at it, make sure you’re following CalTrans for the most up to date road information. As Highway 1 is on an endless quest to jump into the Pacific, and some regions of California are mountainous, road conditions and closures can change very quickly, and much of the time there’s no obvious alternative route, so backtracking may be necessary.

Some people like to plan a trip right down to the minute. Others prefer to have a rough outline that allows time to explore what looks interesting, which is the way we did it. Asking a local for a coffee shop recommendation or chatting to someone in a queue who tells you about something they did yesterday, these interactions often lead to unexpected gems. Planning is great, but exploring is the true spirit of a road trip.